Happy Fall! Team Ward had a wonderful trip to Rivershire last week. Thanks to all of the parent volunteers who helped us measure trees and look for habitat trees – Mrs. Jette, Mr. Kelly, Mrs. Liu, and Mrs. Kevehazi.

We also picked our class pumpkin from the first grade pumpkin patch in the courtyard. We shared observations about the pumpkins and learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin. This is just the beginning of our science unit on plant life cycles and seed dispersal. We have great scientists on Team Ward! We also had our first week of doing Reading Workshop choices which means I have begun to meet with small groups for guided reading. Don’t be surprised if your child brings home more than one book in their book pouch. If you have time, please have your child read both books to you. If you’re short on time, have your child pick the book they want to read to you. By now you’ve probably seen your child’s poetry journal in their book pouch as well. They are allowed to bring these home on Fridays so they can read their poems to you. We introduce 1-2 poems per week in our class in order to practice reading smoothly and with expression. We also use poems to practice identifying high frequency sight words, rhyming words, and visualizing. Please be sure to you’re your child return the poetry journal to school every Monday! We are almost to our goal for our September Scholastic order! I extended the deadline until Monday, September 30th. Please consider placing an order if you have not done so already. Even the smallest order helps our classroom!! You can send in a paper form or place your order online. We will receive the books in about a week. Thanks again! On Monday we will have our first lesson in TEAM Spelling. This means that children in first grade will be grouped according to their developmental spelling stage and have a lesson introducing their words for the week. Your child will bring home their first spelling sort on Monday as well as a list of suggested activities. Please keep the activity letter in a safe spot at home so you can continue to use it on a weekly basis. It's also worth noting that spelling and reading are different skills. Often children can read their words with ease but still need a fair amount of practice to internalize how to spell them. The students will also have a spell check every Monday to see if they mastered their words from the previous week. Another fun option for studying spelling words is using a website called Spelling City. You can find the link through the Spelling tab on my website. http://award103.weebly.com/spelling.html Before practicing, make sure your child selects his/her spelling group (Green, Yellow, etc.) As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call or email me. Thanks for your support! Mrs. Ward